Gaza: MSF treats wounded caught in deadly Rafah camp airstrike
On Sunday 26 May, an Israeli airstrike hit a camp for displaced people in the Tal Al Sultan area of Rafah - a city sheltering hundreds of thousands of people from the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams already working nearby immediately began treating the wounded.
We are horrified by this deadly event, which shows once again that nowhere in Gaza is safe.
Read more: The situation in Rafah
On the night of 26 May, 180 wounded people and 28 dead were recorded at the MSF-supported trauma stabilisation point in Tal Al Sultan, close to where the strike hit the camp.
The camp sheltering displaced people was in an area designated a 'safe zone' by Israel.
Most of the patients treated by our staff had shrapnel wounds, fractures, traumatic injuries and burns.
MSF strongly denounces this bloody attack that comes just a few days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt all military operations in Rafah.
We reiterate our urgent call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire.
While Israeli forces described this attack as precise with some civilians injured, the number of casualties resulting from these airstrikes shows otherwise.
“Women and children were among the people that were brought to the stabilisation point, and once again, civilians are paying the price of this war," says Samuel Johann, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza.
"This Israeli attack on a populated camp in a so-called 'safe zone' in Rafah shows the complete disregard for the lives of civilians in Gaza.
"Though all the patients were stabilised and referred to field hospitals in Rafah, no single healthcare facility in Gaza can handle a mass casualty event such as this one. The health system has been decimated and cannot cope any longer," concludes Johann.
MSF and the Israel – Hamas conflict
An unprecedented humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza. MSF teams have worked to treat the wounded and supply overwhelmed hospitals as indiscriminate airstrikes and a state of siege threaten millions of men, women and children.